RS Aeros at the Downs Sailing Club's Singlehander Open

by Jeremy Blackman 19 May 2016 15:12 BST 15 May 2016

Downs Sailing Club held their first RS Aero open meeting at Deal in East Kent on Sunday the 15th May as part of their singlehander open. With a fleet of 6 RS Aeros now at Downs 4 locals made it out to be joined by 4 more visitors to make a nice fleet of 8 RS Aero 7s.

Initially the wind looked as if it was going to be light and 9 rigs would be the order of the day but by the start of race 1 the wind had freshened to 15-20 knots and those who had rigged their 9's quickly changed them to a 7s, leaving everyone with 7 rigs. The waves made the off wind leg interesting enabling you to surf on the back of them down to the leeward mark. By race four the wind had dropped again and the race was shortened.

Visitor, Andrew Snell from Datchet SC, led the pack winning all four races closely followed by Nigel Rolfe from Burghfield SC. Rob Freeland was the top Downs sailor in 5th closely behind Caitlin Atkin of Whitstable SC, the 1st Lady and 1st Youth.

Next up in the UK is the RS Aero Schools Champs, within the NSSA Inlands at Datchet on 28/29 May followed closely by the UK Nationals at Royal Torquay YC 2-5 June. With 64 RS Aeros already pre-entered for the UK Nationals it is set to be another fantastic Championship in the fine sailing area of Torbay on the English Riviera.

Keep in touch with Everything Aero via the Class website at www.rsaerosailing.org and facebook group at www.facebook.com/groups/rsaeroclass

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Name	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	Pts
1	1689	Andrew Snell	Datchet SC	1	1	1	1	3
2	1551	Nigel Rolfe	Burghfield SC	2	2	2	2	6
3	1071	Peter Chaplin	Burghfield SC	3	DNF	4	3	10
4	1568	Caitlin Atkin	Whitstable SC	4	4	3	4	11
5	1489	Rob Freeland	Downs SC	5	3	6	DNS	14
6	1401	Ken Davis	Downs SC	7	5	5	DNF	17
7	1398	Paul Harris	Downs SC	6	6	DNS	DNS	21
8	1400	Jeremy Blackman	Downs SC	8	DNS	DNS	DNS	26